This morning I was just day dreaming about blocks of land and what we could do with. Meeting with one of the leaders of the Organic and Regenerative Investment Co-Op got me dreaming again.

Came across this one this morning. 216ac with some flat land, some bush on a steep hill, Goulburn River frontage and the balance rolling hills.

Back of the property looking west down onto the Goulburn River

By no means is this the perfect property but it does have some excellent features which is the kind of thing I look for. Apart from the obvious things like the space, views and the river frontage the thing that I really like about this property is how it is composed of so many different well defined “rooms”. For a mixed use property this is essential to provide separation between different uses so they don’t clash with each other.

Room 2 looking north to the house block (which is in the trees behind the shed).

 

The area near the main road is flat to mostly flat but is also divided into at least three reasonably well defined rooms. The house block and two other clear paddocks about 10 to 20 acres each. The house block could be developed into an area holding agro-tourism cabins (already has one), farm shop, micro brewery, gardens and such. The North East corner would be great for the Greenhouse area and associated highly visible modern infrastructure like packing shed and such. The other flattish paddock to the south of the house block and on the west side of the property would be good for market garden, cropping rotational pig rearing (preceeding market garden).

Arial View of the property. North is to the right East to the top.

Heading south these areas of flat land give way to gentle north to north west facing slopes which could be good for a mix of cropping, orchards and nut groves, giving way to re-vegetation or timber plantings as the gradient increases.

With these relatively intensive farming operations taking up about 3/8s of the property the balance could be grazed but securing a farm for me has always been in part about having a place to build the big toys for my medieval reinactment hobby. The farming activities and tourism aspects ways of turning timber framed barns, camp ground, hill fort and the like into tax deductions to make them more affordable.

The back half of this property is arranged around a 1.5 acre dam. The surrounding slopes form a bowl with a flat to gently sloping bottom rising to steeper sides. With access to the Goulburn River as well this site would be great for a camp ground, cabin and glamping agro tourism development which could also double for a place for my reenactment friends to play on.

Gentle rolling terrain at the bottom of the bowl at the back of the property.

Not much flat area adjacent to the river but enough for picnic ground.

The 1.5 acre dam at the top of the bowl. The steeper sides on the east side of the bowl above the dam can be seen in the photo with the more gentle slopes below the dam to the right of where the photograph was taken.

Photo from the edge of the bowl.

Contour map of the site. Area of flat ground to the north end right) of the property adjacent to the road. gives way to slopes that increase in gradient as you move south and east. The back of the property is framed by this ridge and another further to the south which from a natural bowl or amphitheater. Finally at the very south end of the property the high ridge falls quickly to the Goulburn River.

Like I said this property isn’t perfect. Its relatively narrow width to length ratio isn’t ideal and being adjacent to a state forest would be a big plus but as it is its pretty awesome.